The tension between Muslims and Hindus has been very high for centuries and still continues to exist today. Islamic countries are near and connected to India. There is even a 12% population of Muslims in India which used to be much higher and puts them in constant contact Hindus. The two religions have been peaceful for the past decade but prior to 1992 there was much bloodshed between the two religions.

The first known Muslim attack on India was in 715 C.E. The Muslims invaded because they had discovered that Raja Dabir was influencing the overthrow of Arab control in Persia. This initial act of war put the Muslims and Hindus in close contact until modern times. There were constant invasions after the year 1100 and borders of land were constantly shifting, but the Muslims seemed to have a difficult time moving the Hindus. These invasions allowed a Muslim population to grow in India.

Today India is neighbored by Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, making it in constant contact with Muslims. Before the eighteenth century Muslim and Hindu

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violence was rarely over religion. Things changed in the eighteenth century, when the intent of war was over religious differences. Neither religion has accepted each other completely and takes in little influence from the neighboring religion.

In 1947 Muslims forced partitioning of Pakistan which divided the country making a single Muslim homeland. This caused much violence between the two religions and many were killed on both sides. Gandhi stopped the violence by going on a hunger strike which led the Hindu people to stop fighting. The aftermath of the violence resulted in the assassination of Gandhi and the formation of Bangladesh.

The most recent acts of religious destruction between Hindus and Muslims occurred in 1992 when a mob of Hindu militants ripped apart a mosque and other Muslim targets in a northern Indian town called Ayodhya. The Hindu extremists caused the wreckage because they believed a Hindu warrior King was born there. There was a ceremony being held at the temple and 200,000 people broke through a police line a brought all three domes to the ground. Retaliation was a huge fear, but it never occurred.

In recent years India and neighboring have developed a nuclear weapons program. Many people are